History
The natives of the Vasai region are predominantly Norteiros or East Indians, a people whose culture derives from a composite of the Konkani substrate, overlaid by the Portuguese, Marathi and British rulers. The Sandorians are predominantly of the Vadval sub-ethnic group, and speak the Vadval dialect, which is considered by the government as a dialect of Marathi, although this view is disputed.
Following the conversions of 1564, a Portuguese noblewoman,Donna Irina, had a chapel, Our Lady of Help (Nossa Senhora da Ajuda) built in the village for the converts. The first mass was held in this chapel on 11 November 1566 by the Jesuit missionaries. A Sandorian tradition states that St. Gonsalo Garcia, martyred by the Buddhists in Japan, was present as a young boy at the foundation laying ceremony of the chapel.
The chapel was renamed after St. Thomas the Apostle, when in 1565, his picture was brought from the fort and enshrined in the chapel. It seems that sometime or the other a new church was built a little further towards the north occupying the actual site on which the present edifice stands. The church was destroyed by Muslim Arab invaders from Gujarat in 1571, and was reconstructed in 1573.
Fr. Pedro de Almeida S.J., was appointed the 'Pai dos Cristaos' for 1574–1576, with charge of the Christians of Sandor and Papdy parishes.
In 1679, Arabs from Gujarat once again attacked and damaged the church. In 1690, a certain invader by name of 'Kakaji' also attacked and damaged the church.
The Maratha invaders of 1739 did not destroy the chapel, although the Jesuits were forced to leave and it was thereafter served by the secular priests.
The chapel was enlarged in 1889. The three altars of the chapel are from one of the original churches in the Bacaim Fort. At some time, a cross and a grotto to Our Lady of Lourdes was added.
It is not known when the chapel was elevated to the rank of a parish church, but from the evidence, it seems to be some time before 1574.
Subsequently, the parishes of Our Lady of Remedies at Remedy, Our Lady of Grace at Papdy, Mae de Deus (Mother of God) at Palle, Our Lady of Mercy at Merces and St. Michael the Archangel at Porim (Manickpur) were carved out of it (1574–1606).
Sandor and the rest of the Vasai region were not disturbed by the intra-Catholic Padroado-Propaganda conflict as the region remained firmly faithful to the Archbishop of Goa and refused to accept the authority of the Vicars Apostolic of Bombay and their successors, the Archbishops of Bombay.
In 1886, the northern part of the Archdiocese of Goa was carved out as the Diocese of Damao, including the Vasai region, and it was only in 1928 that the two dioceses (Damao and Bombay) were merged, so that the Vasai region came under the Archbishops of Bombay for the first time in 1928.
At present, the parish of Sandor also serves the village of Saloli. The church celebrates its feast 9–15 December every year, and has a big feast in the evenings.
The village of Sandor has now been made part of the Municipal Corporation of Vasai-Virar.
Read more about this topic: Sandor
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Postmodernism is, almost by definition, a transitional cusp of social, cultural, economic and ideological history when modernism’s high-minded principles and preoccupations have ceased to function, but before they have been replaced with a totally new system of values. It represents a moment of suspension before the batteries are recharged for the new millennium, an acknowledgment that preceding the future is a strange and hybrid interregnum that might be called the last gasp of the past.”
—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. Sunday Times: Books (London, April 21, 1991)
“The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art’s audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public.”
—Henry Geldzahler (1935–1994)
“Don’t you realize that this is a new empire? Why, folks, there’s never been anything like this since creation. Creation, huh, that took six days, this was done in one. History made in an hour. Why it’s a miracle out of the Old Testament!”
—Howard Estabrook (1884–1978)